Time to address 'broken system'

The mentally ill in New Jersey are often victimized twice - once by the continuing stigma attached to such illnesses, and again by the limited access to adequate care and treatment. As outlined in a front-page story, "Broken System," in Sunday's Press, when it comes to access, things may get worse before they get better unless dramatic steps are taken.

The limited access to mental health professionals is characterized by months-long waits to get an appointment to see a psychiatrist, and a lack of hospital beds to accommodate individuals should they need inpatient treatment.

It can take as long as two months for someone with a mental issue to meet one-on-one with a mental health professional in a publicly funded clinic in Monmouth County. In Ocean County, the wait can be as long as three months. Letting someone with a mental health problem twist in the wind for weeks on end is unconscionable.

Solutions to long-standing access problems will, in some instances, cost money. But those problems can be eased by a change in the requirement of some state-funded community health centers and private insurance companies that new patients meet with a psychiatrist before seeing a therapist, even if the problems they present could be treated without medication. Therapists in New Jersey are not permitted to prescribe medications, but they can treat some patients without medication and refer those who need it.

In addition, New Jersey needs to reverse the trend of reducing the number of psychiatric beds available to those with serious mental problems. The number of beds dropped from 2,820 in 2005 to 1,920 in 2010, according to a study by The Treatment Advocacy. Last year, the state lost another 300 beds when it closed the Hagedorn Gero-Psychiatric Hospital in Lebanon.

One of the consequences of this shortage of beds, says Josephine S. Minardo, the executive director of the New Jersey Psychological Association, is that hospital stays become shorter, sometimes before the patient is properly medicated and given a thorough follow-up outpatient treatment plan. This leads to people seeking treatment for sometimes serious mental illness at already overcrowded hospital emergency rooms, tying up beds and resources there as well.

Those who champion deinstitutionalization and the closing of state psychiatric hospitals often ignore the pitiable state of many of the residential centers and the often-substandard, follow-up outpatient care.

State Sen. Richard Codey, D-Essex, who says some of New Jersey's residential treatment centers are "hellholes," is among those who maintain that hospitalization is the best option for some people with severe mental illness. But he doesn't see more beds becoming available anytime soon. "Not as long as Gov. Christie is in office," he said.

The demand, though, is growing, and the state cannot turn a blind eye to those in need of hospitalization. Money should be directed to increasing the number of beds available for those who desperately need them. Beyond that, the state should explore legislative and regulatory responses to the unacceptable wait times for those seeking counseling or treatment for mental health issues.

When patients needing hospital care have nowhere to go, and when people seeking appointments with therapists are kept in limbo for months, it is a tacit admission that their pain is not a priority. It's time to spend the money needed for the former and alter some policies to address the latter.

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Time to address 'broken system'

The mentally ill in New Jersey are often victimized twice ? once by the continuing stigma attached to such illnesses, and again by the limited access to adequate care and treatment. As outlined in a

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